Casing spear



Nov. 3, 1925,

gm (/OHNA )6 CASING SPEAR- Filed Oct. 13. 1923 J. A. YOUNG AL 5 Patented Nov. 3, 1925.

UNITED sTAr-ss PATENT JOH A. room}, or fronRANc'E, c'ALrr'oRNIA, n amaria, am, or cinema, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNORS To UNION TOOL COMPANKOF TQRRANCE, CALIFORNIA, A

CORPORATION" OF CALIFORNIA,

Application 'filgd October 13, 1923-. Serial Ito-5368;293-

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, JOHN A. YOUNG and PHILIP M. REA, citizens of the United States, residing at Torrance, in the county of Los Angeles, State of California, and West Chicago, Du Page County, State of Illinois, respectively, have invented a new and useful Casing Spear, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to casing spears, such as used'in oil-well practice to enable the casing to be engaged from the inside uany different sizes of spears.

to raise it. As usually constructed, such a spear is adapted to cooperate with only one size of casing. This necessitates providing The general' object of this invention is to produce a spear of simpl construction which can be used effectively with casings of different internal diameter.

Further objects of the invention will appear hereinafter.

The invention consists in the novel parts and combination of parts to be described hereinafter, all of which contribute to produce an efficient casing spear.

A preferred embodiment of the invention is described in the following specification,

while the broad scope ofthe invention is helical spring 10' which is disposed about side elevation and representingsthe lower end of the tool string broken away.

' Figure 2 is a vertical section and partialelevation through the casing spear.

Figure 3 is a cross-section taken on the line 38 of Figure; 2. p

, Figure 4 1s a cross-section taken on the lin of Figure 2.

Figure 5 is a cross-section'taken on the line 5'5 of Figure 2. r

w is constructed'so as to release when the spear V In practicing our invention, we provide a plurality of expansibl'e slips which are carried by the body of the spear, andwe pro-' vi'de holding means includ ng separate means located at different levels on the mandrel cooperating withmeans carried by a collar for holdingthe slips in a plurality of different set positions corresponding to difteren't casing diameters; this holding means jarred, the mandrel of the spear cooperfaces offthe mandrel; the widest portion of the mandrel is disposed below so that these guide-ways divergeina downward direction.

In the guide-ways we provide slips 3 which slide 1n the guide-ways in a substantially vertical plane, the outer faces of the slips being arcuate and provided with teeth 4 to engaget-he inner face ofthe-casing 5.

We provide the lowvergportionof the mandrel with-a stem 6--of'red-uced diameter, and on this stem -We provide-a sliding collar 7 which engages the slips '3 and determines their position in the guide-ways. We prefer to construct the slips "3 so that their lower ends never project out of the guide-ways, and for this reason we provide the upper end of the collar 7 with a plurality of tongues 8 which correspond to the guideways and project into the guide-ways from their lower ends '(see Fig.

Below this collar 7 we "provide a latchcollar "9 which is in the formof an inverted cup so as to receive the iipper end of. a

the stem 6, the lower end of the spring being received in a similar cupsh'aped collar 11 held on the stem by' a nut I2 which is in 'turn secur'ed by'a cotter-'pinlii The-latch- 'coll'ar S) carries the holding means'orl latching device which is capable of"maintaining the slips 3 in their different seti'positions. Inthe present instance this latch device comprises a latchor trigger 14 which is in -the 'form'of a lever pivoted on a latchpin 15, and this lever extends horizontally across thefupper face of the collar '9, being received in a recess or depression 16 (-se'eldig. 4). The

outward movement of the' latch is limited by a stop r The stem is formedwith a recess 18 having an abruptfacefor shoulder on its'upper side'and an inclinediifacevw chit-s lower'si'de. When the latch 14 is engaged @with this recess IS the 'springldwill be held in con- "straint by the latch: and the 'sli-ps'.-3 will be held in a set position corresponding ;.to a predetermined diameter of easing. W hen the spear is lowered iiito t'he'casing with the slips very near or dragging on the wall of the casing. In doing this, the slips will not interfere with lowering the spear because the drag on the slips, if any, is in the direction of the small end of the guideways. lVhen the spear is at the desired depth an up-jar will be given to the spear and when this occurs the inclined faces of the latch and recess cooperate to swing the latch 14 outwardly on its pivot and thereby release the collar 9. This will permit a further upward movement'of the mandrel relative to the slips 3 by the up-jar which effects the tight engagement of the slips with the wall of the casing.

In order tofacilitate the disengagement of the latch 14 and insure a quick action of the latch, we prefer to provide the collar 9 with a sliding pin mounted in a drilled hole or chamber 21 in the inner end of which a spring 22 is provided tending to force the pin outwardly. In the set position of the latch shown in Fig. l, the outer end of this pin lies against the end of the latch so that as soon as the. jar occurs the spring accelerates the outward movement of the latch.

In order to enable the slips to be set in different positions, we provide the stem 6 with a plurality of recesses, for example, two other recesses23 and 24 which are constructed like the recess 18 and which cooperate with the latch 14 in the same way. In order to enable very slight adjustments in the slip to be made, we'prefer to locate these different notches or recesses 18, 23 and 24 out of line with each other circumferentially lar on the stem, for example, through a dis-- tance which would be less than the width of the recess. By arranging the recesses as described, one recess might be very slightly out of line with the others in a vertical direction. i i

We prefer to guide the latch-collar 9 on the stem in such a way that it is non-rotatable :upon the stem, for which reason we provide thelstem 6 with a longitudinal groove 25 and we provide the collar 9 with a pin 26 which projects into this groove, the outer end of the pin being formed into a threaded head 27 which screws into a threaded opening in the side-face of the collar.

If desired, this threaded head 27 may be.

provided with a cotter-pin 28 to hold the pin against becoming displaced, the said cotter-pin being received in a notch 29 formed in the face of the collar.

In order to enable the collar to be shifted around to enable the latch to engage either one of the recesses 23 and 24, we provide the collar with two other drilled openings 30 and 31 (see Fig. 5) which are diametrically opposite to each other, each of these openings being 90 from the location of the pin 26 on the collar, as shown in Fig. 5.

It should beunderstood that our improvement may'be applied to spears of different types of construction. For the purpose of illustration we have shown it as ap- Jlied to a spear of the type illustrated in atent No. 1,433,084: granted October 24, 1922, to Fred G. Liady, but we do not con fine ourselves in the use of our invention to a spear having the features of construction shown in that patent.

It is understood that the embodiment of the invention described herein is only one of the many embodiments this invention may take and we do not wish to be limited in the practice of our invention nor in our claims to the particular embodiment set IOItll.

What we claim is:

1. In a spear, the combination of a mandrel, a plurality of eXpansible slips carried thereby, holding means in the form of a latch disposed adjacent to the side of the mandrel, said mandrel having a plurality of recesses any one of which may be engaged by the said latch, said recesses cooperating with the latch to enable the slips to be held in a plurality of different set positions corresponding to the different recesses, said latch having an inclined face, and each recess having an inclined face to engage the inclined face of the latch and cooperating therewith todisengage the latch from the recess when the spear is jarred, said mandrel operating to expand the slips to engage the casing.

2. In a spear, the combination of a mandrel, a plurality of expansible slips carried thereby, holding means in the form of a latch lying adjacent to the side of-the mandrel, said mandrel having a plurality of recesses any one of which may engage the said latch, and capable of cooperating with the ferent set positions corresponding to the different recesses, said recesses and said latch latch to hold the slips in a plurality of dif recess with an inclined face engaging the inclined face of the latch and having an abrupt face engaging the latch to hold the spring in constraint, said latch and recess cooperating when the spear is jarred to disengage the latch and permit an upward movement of the mandrel relative to the slips, and thereby expand the same into engagement with the casing.

4. In a spear, the combination of a mandrel having slip guide-ways diverging in a downwart direction, slips mounted in the guide-Ways, said mandrel having a stem be low the guide-ways, a collar mounted to slide on the stem and having tongues projecting into the guide-ways and engaging the lower ends of the slips, a spring on the stem, means for holding the spring in con straint and constructed so as to be jarred loose when the spear is jarred, thereby permitting an upward movement of the mandrel relative to the slips operating to expand the slips into engagement with the casing.

5. In a spear, the combination of a mandrel, a plurality of expansible slips carried thereby, holding means in the form of a latch disposed adjacent to the side of the mandrel, said mandrel having a plurality of recesses, any one of which may be engaged by the said latch, said recesses being disposed out of alinement with each other circumferentially around the mandrel and capable of cooperatingwith the latch to enable the slips to be held in a plurality of different set positions corresponding to the different recesses, said latch having an i11- clined face and each recess having an inclined face to engage the inclined face of the latch and cooperate therewith to disengage the lever from the recess when the spear is arred and thereby release the same, said mandrel operating to expand the slips to engage the casing.

6. In a spear, the combination of a mandrel, a plurality of expansible slips carried I capable of cooperating with the latch to enable the slips to be held in a plurality of different set positions corresponding to the different recesses, said latch having an inclined face and each recess having an inclined face to engage the inclined face of the latch, and cooperate therewith to disengage the lever from the recess when the spear is jarred and thereby release the same, said mandrel operating to expand the slips to engage the casing, and a spring carried by the mandrel, held in constraint by the latch and exerting its force in a direction to move the slips away from their expanded position.

7. In a spear, the combination of a mandrel, a plurality of expansible slips carried thereby, said mandrel having a stem below the slips, a collar mounted to slide on the stem and engaging the slips, a latch-collar mounted on the stem below the first named collar, a spring on the stem exerting its force against the latch-collar, latching means for latching the latch collar to the stem with the spring in constraint, and con structed so as to be released when the spear is jarred, said mandrel cooperating with the slips to move the same into engagement with the casing.

Signed at Torrance, Gal, this 24th day of Sept., 1923.

JOHN A. YOUNG. Signed at est Chicago, 111., this 18th day of Sept, 1923.

PHILIP l\[. REA. 

